Childhood adversity severity modulates the associations between adaptive psychological changes and amygdala volumetric changes in response to behavioral interventions.
Journal of affective disorders reports January 1, 2024 Diane Joss, Junjie Lu, Martin H Teicher et al. 16 citations
Among young adult survivors of childhood adversity, an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) and a Stress Management Education (SME) program both led to increased mindfulness, reduced stress, and improved depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms, with no significant difference between the two groups. Neither group showed greater changes in amygdala volume. Within the MBI group, the severity of childhood maltreatment mediated the link between mindfulness changes and right amygdala volume changes. Across both groups, childhood maltreatment moderated the effect of trait anxiety changes on left amygdala volume changes. The findings suggest that psychological-change-dependent amygdala volumetric changes are not unique to mindfulness training.